S01E19 - Clarifications

18th Day of the Bull

*****

I wanted to have some words with Magus Indred before we departed in the morning, so I left the girls with the promise of shopping when I was done. Brice made some inquiries as to Indred’s whereabouts and then we set off for his tower after I grabbed some things from my trunk.

A chilly wind tugged at my cape, forcing me to clasp it awkwardly with one hand while clutching my sword-on-a-stick in the other. We arrived at Indred’s tower shortly after the church bell rang five times, indicating that it was five hours past dawn. There was no opening in the tower and I stopped, wondering how one went about knocking on a non-existent door.

“Hey Indred,” I said, addressing the grey stones with a shake of my trenchent. “You want to open up before I start chipping your walls with the butt of this thing?”

The stone melted and a doorway appeared. Magus Indred opened it a moment later and invited me in. Brice and Colin remained outside.

The interior of his tower was as I remembered it. A pair of comfortable chairs sat opposite of a settee while a sturdy coffee table ran between them like a dark brown island. Shelves lined the walls, filled with oddities and the occasional book. A small fireplace filled with coal occupied one section, filling the air with a scent not unlike that of a fine cigar.

“Magus Samuel,” Indred said, settling into a chair. “Shall I send for tea?”

“No, I won’t take much of your time,” I replied, setting the books he had loaned me down on the table between us. “I wanted to thank you for the loan of the books, they were of immense help to me while setting up my growlery. Without them I would have made many frustrating and time-consuming conflict errors. The celestial and infernal mythos in this world is slightly off centre what we call the ‘finite curve’ of worlds. It poses some problems for me, but nothing that a friend with a library couldn’t solve.”

“I’m glad you found them useful and pleased you returned them so quickly.” He said. “They were to be Simon’s when he reached journeyman status.”

“That leads me to one of the other questions I’d like to ask,” I said, phrasing my question so it would hopefully prompt Indred to explain in depth. “I gifted Simon a wand before we returned through the Alfin Ways. Since he was unarmed, it seemed the right thing to do at the time. The fact that he didn’t know the process of unfettered enchantment surprised me. Such knowledge is considered the very foundation for magic in the majority of worlds.”

Indred gave me a bitter smile. “Yes, Simon told me what you’d revealed to him in your ignorance,” He said. “Such information he would have learned in another decade or two. I’ve placed a geas on him at the request of Sage Sandulf to seal his memory.”

“You altered his memory?” I said, horrified at the thought.

“Simon’s memory is intact,” Indred said. “I placed a geas on him to avoid recalling that event or any memories associated with it. Until he becomes a magus, he just won’t think about them.”

“So he has a wand and no idea where he got it?” I asked.

“No. The unfettered circles were destroyed and the wand is powerless.” Indred said. “As a newcomer, you are unaware of the balance of power in this world. Kaliana is the seat of magic in the New Kingdoms and as such, holds sway over them. The Septumhate controls not only the power of every Magus and Journeyman mage, but most enchanted items as well. This helps preserve the peace by adding another layer of politics to the machinations of the nobility.”

“I also discovered that as a magus, I have some serious political clout.” I said.

“Yes and no,” Indred said. “You stand in a unique position. You have been recognised by the Septumhate as a magus, but you are an outsider and unbound by our laws and traditions. You should not count on support from Kaliana in any fashion. Your status will be acknowledged, but your influence will be denied.”

I thought on that for a moment and came to the conclusion that I was a magus in name only. I wasn’t a member of the Old Boy’s club so even though they acknowledged my existence, they didn’t intend to give me the support or respect that would be due to a native of Avelan. Which meant no awesome political power that would almost certainly come in handy.

“So I shouldn’t expect to boss around the nobility, eh?” I joked.

“A magus rarely commands,” Indred said with a wry smile. “He suggests.”

“And Kaliana rules through suggestion,” I said.

Indred shrugged. “The Septumhate guides the New Kingdoms for the embetterment of all. War is rarely beneficial to the common man, and the majority of mages were at one time common men.” He said.

I spent longer than I planned and Magus Indred was more than happy to give me the highlights of the power structure in Avelan over a pot of tea.

The New Kingdoms broke off from the Treian Empire nearly two centuries ago after internal conflicts drove the empire to the brink of collapse. Determined not to repeat the mistakes of the empire, seven mages joined together and formed the Septumhate, vowing to keep a tight leash on magic use.

By establishing themselves as impartial diplomats, Kaliana is able to nudge and manipulate the kingdoms, with the unspoken threat of withdrawing magical power from enchantments that enhance the quality of life and military might of the kingdoms. The nobility is not entirely happy with the arrangement, but the knowledge that an aggressor could have the magic removed from their walls, buildings, ships, armour and weapons keeps them from complaining too much. Or at least it keeps them from complaining openly.

Trade with the Treian Empire is limited, but enchanted items are always smuggled in and it is suspected that some of the more troublesome actors have stockpiles of magical artefacts and are just waiting for an excuse to use them on the battlefield. This is a concern for Kaliana, but they are confident in their ability to support anyone on the receiving end of ‘unlicensed’ artefacts.

The religious climate was much more chaotic and involved conflicts on both the material and ethereal planes between a Holy Trinity; Mistras the All-Father, Nuana the All-Mother, and the Lady Avelan, Consort to Mistras.

It seems that Avelan was created as a garden world for the Lady Avelan and as such there were strong feelings that she should be sole object of worship on this world. Worship of Mistras and Nuana are seen as an insult to the goddess Avelan, and while there has been no formal declaration of hostilities, violence is frequent and tensions are high.

Infernal influences have always been a concern, but rarely have they posed any real threat to the stability of the world. Cults rise, spread, and collapse as they are exposed and eliminated or are eaten by the very beings they worshipped for power. The appearance of Daedalelea and the spread of her domain was a shock to the power base of the New Kingdoms. With much of Mirador consumed in one year and the Diocese of Henland threatened, the Head Priestess of Avelan petitioned the Septumhate for assistance with summoning the Heroes prophesied to defeat the evil.

“Daedalelea has swept over a huge area in the last year and threatens Cerisian territories north of the channel,” Indred said, swinging back to the topic of our summoning. “Although the Kingdom of Extedburia has several nexus that would have been suitable for the summoning ritual, it was believed that Cerise would be a better choice because Daedalelea would spread to the east and west before crossing the channel.”

“I was under the impression that this was a singular effort by Cerise,” I said. “But you’re saying that Henland and Extedburia will also be sending troops to assist with the effort?”

“I’m not privy to military matters, but that is my understanding,” Indred said. “Troops from all four nations will gather in Mirador and press north to the Cottlecier Highlands.”

Creaking stairs announced Simon’s presence before he entered the room. “Magus Indred,” he said. “Shall I prepare a lunch or fetch something from the kitchens?”

“It depends on our guest,” Indred replied. “Will you be staying for lunch?”

“I didn’t plan on staying this long,” I said, a little embarrassed at being a bad guest. “I’ll not be staying for lunch, I have already have plans.”

When I left Indred’s tower it was shortly after noon and I had a much deeper understanding of the world and the players upon it. I also had the beginnings of a headache.

Brice and Colin were waiting patiently for me outside and I felt guilty over the fact that I hadn’t even considered their comfort in this chilly weather. Even though Brice assured me that it wasn’t any trouble and they had enough common sense to swap out occasionally for necessary functions, I resolved to be more considerate in the future.

Half an hour later I was in a carriage surrounded by lovely young women.

*****

Author’s Note: I’m learning a lot from this process, the biggest thing is that my vision and my production are not in sync. In my vision, E18, 19, 20 & 21 should all be one big chapter but production dictates that it is broken into smaller bytes.

The other thing I’m learning is when to gloss over a scene. The vision in my head is over 1000 words of a carriage ride. The reality is that I don’t need that scene, so all those word-babies are aborted before they even hit the page. So the carriage scene is going to be a few paragraphs, then the rest of the chapter will focus where necessary.

I’m grateful for your support while I learn how to be a better writer. Happy holidays to you and your family.

Completion date: 20DEC2019

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